He started out trying to clear the name of his father, Carlos Santos, by investigating the Legion of the Living Lightning.

At the end of the Civil War, Living Lighting joined the 50 states initiative, becoming a member of Texas-based super-team, The Rangers that also include Firebird, Fifty-One, Red Wolf, Shooting Star and Texas Twister.

), who way back in the late-60s TALES TO ASTONISH had made up the Legion of the Living Lightning as one of the many "secret empire"-type groups running around in those days, drawn in that case by Marie Severin.

But eventually, I decided I wanted that name solidly affixed to a super-hero... an electrical echo of the Human Torch, of course.

(Back when I was 10-12, something like that, I had written and drawn a few stories, or at least pages, about a similar hero I called Shockman, or occasionally Shockwave...

The first story with the Living Lightning (whom I tied in with the Legion of Living Lightning, partly to acknowledge the name's ultimate source) was drawn by Paul Ryan in AVENGERS WEST COAST #63... but, while Paul was a splendid artist, I was unhappy with the way LL looked in that story.

That look was achieved perfectly with Canadian artist Dave Ross drew him, starting in AVENGERS WEST COAST #74.

During the same year, Miguel Santos played a role in the comic book limited series Infinity War with #1–3, 6 and several tie-ins.

Living Lightning has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1.

[6][7] In an interview with Comic Book Resources, at a question about the antagonists in the story, Chris Yost answered "You'll also be seeing a well known super-hero group from the American southwest named – wait for it – The Rangers!

[9][10] Hoping to salvage his father's name, high school student Miguel broke into the Legion's headquarters to learn more about their work.

[13] During his tenure with the Avengers West Coast, he teamed with heroes such as the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Darkhawk, and Spider-Man.

He battled villains such as Arkon and Thundra,[14] the second Hangman, the Night Shift, Satannish, Death Web,[15][16] Professor Power, and the Magus.

[23][24] During the Civil War storyline, Miguel joined Captain America's Secret Avengers as one of twenty new members who opposed the Superhuman Registration Act.

After Captain America surrendered to the authorities, Living Lightning became an Initiative recruit,[25] joining the Texas Rangers.

[26] During the Secret Invasion storyline, Living Lightning was with the Rangers when they, 3-D Man, and Ant-Man III were fighting a Skrull that was posing as Lobo.

[30] Living Lightning was with the Rangers when they come into conflict with Kaine alias Scarlet Spider in Houston,[7][31][32] then they joined forces with him to battle a monster made of pure energy.

[34] During the Avengers: No Surrender story arc, Santos was the one responsible for making the Grandmaster back down and surrender the Avengers he had captured as part of the latest game through a daring bluff; by provoking the Grandmaster into a game of poker, Santos subsequently raised the stakes of the game until he reached a point where the stakes were that the loser would have all memory of their accomplishments wiped from the memories of all who knew of them, prompting Grandmaster to fold as he could not bear to lose everything like that whereas Santos accepted that being an Avenger meant doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do rather than because you would be remembered for it.

He has the ability to control his body while composed of electrical plasma, at which time his mind exists only in astral form.

In this form, he can fly, reaching sub-light speeds, withstanding the vacuum of space, and is impervious to most physical and energy attacks.